By the time Chen Zhu took a cab back to school from the cemetery, it was nearly seven thirty, and morning study was almost over.
If he had actually been a high schooler, Chen Zhu would have sprinted toward the classroom at top speed.
Unfortunately, he had already been to university. As far as he was concerned, showing up to class at all after realizing he was late was already doing the school a favor. Why run and get himself drenched in sweat?
So Chen Zhu walked through the school gates at his normal pace, completely unaware that several people in the nearby Rice Noodle Roll Shop had their eyes fixed on him.
"See him? That's Chen Zhu."
The speaker was a boy wearing a Zhixin Middle School uniform, with slicked-back hair and a somewhat slick manner.
Beside him stood two young men in leather jackets, both around twenty. Their faces were greasy, as if they had just emerged from an all-nighter at an internet café.
One of them squinted for a while, then shook his head. "Too far away. I can't make out his face. Should we get closer?"
"Don't, don't."
The slick-haired boy from Zhizhong High School quickly waved his hands. "That bastard Chen Zhu is sharp. If we get too close, he might notice us."
"That's no problem!"
The young man in the leather jacket waved a hand expansively. "We'll just send him a little note and invite him out for a chat."
He had used the word "invite," but it clearly wasn't meant politely.
"Brother Shan, Brother Cai, please don't actually hit him."
The slick-haired boy from Zhizhong High School still knew where to draw the line and kept reminding them, "Just call him out, give him a warning, and scare him a little. That's enough."
"Xiao Li, you're way too timid."
The young man in the leather jacket scoffed. "What's the big deal about a few kicks in the ass and a slap or two? Relax. We'll get even for you. Fucking bastard, stealing my buddy's girl..."
Time flew by. When the words at the back of the blackboard changed to "54 days until the Gaokao," the province-wide Second Mock Exam was approaching too.
Under the pressure of the upcoming exams, a heavy atmosphere settled over the entire senior-year building, except among the sports and arts students.
They had already taken their joint specialty entrance exams at the end of the previous year. Now all they had to do was wait for the Gaokao in June.
As long as they scored somewhere in the three hundreds on the academic portion and nothing went wrong, they could go to university as planned.
Zhang Chao, a sports student, had suddenly been in a great mood lately. He even broke his personal 4 × 100-meter record during training. When he came home at night and found his mother playing mahjong with her usual crowd in the living room, he actually helped pour them tea.
"Did you find money on the street? That grin's practically stretching around to the back of your head."
Zhang Chao's mother glanced at her son and casually discarded a tile. "Nine dots!"
Zhang Chao took a bottle of Coke out of the fridge, gulped down several mouthfuls, then let out a satisfied burp. "Heh, I heard some good news lately. Some guys outside school are going to teach Chen Zhu a lesson."
"Who's Chen Zhu? Kong!"
Zhang Chao's mother asked the question while declaring her kong.
"That asshole who made me write a pledge at the police station."
Zhang Chao waggled his eyebrows. "Apparently, he stole someone's girlfriend. Now the guy's getting some buddies from outside school to rough him up."
"Who?"
Zhang Chao's mother suddenly turned and stared at her son for a moment before finally remembering who "Chen Zhu" was.
"Come on, play. Play..."
The other three players couldn't help urging her along.
Zhang Chao's mother discarded the tile in her hand, then asked thoughtfully, "How do you know about this?"
"I'm friends with those guys from outside school."
Zhang Chao grinned. "What goes around comes around. Nobody escapes karma! How could I not be happy?"
But his mother wasn't pleased the way he had expected. After playing another couple of tiles, she suddenly snapped:
"Stop hanging around those thugs. They're the dregs of society. You used to be such a good kid. Those pieces of trash are the ones who turned you into this disobedient brat."
Sports students had plenty of free time and energy. They were big and strong and didn't have to study much, which made it easy for them to fall in with thugs from outside school.
Some of those thugs were even former sports students who had dropped out.
But a mother was bound to see her son through rose-colored glasses. Perhaps every mother in the world was the same: whatever was wrong with her son, her first reaction would be, "He's a good boy at heart. Other people must have led him astray."
Even after he married, any argument between husband and wife would surely be the daughter-in-law's fault.
Zhang Chao had wanted to share this delightful news with his mother, only to get a scolding instead. Annoyed, he decided to head back to his bedroom and play on the computer.
Then his mother suddenly called, "Zhang Chao, get over here!"
"What?"
Zhang Chao walked over reluctantly.
"What are you planning to do about this business with Chen Zhu?"
His mother asked.
"What am I planning to do?"
Zhang Chao froze for a moment. What the fuck does this have to do with me? Then he said, "Watch the show, obviously. Better yet, let them beat that asshole to death."
His mother said nothing and continued playing mahjong in silence. Under the light, her plump double chin stood out especially clearly.
Zhang Chao sensed that something was wrong and couldn't help asking, "Mom, what is it...?"
"That honors-class student called Chen Zhu... after what happened last time, I could tell he's reasonable, but he won't let anyone take advantage of him."
His mother looked thoroughly disdainful. "What brains could those thugs who don't even go to school possibly have? They might end up falling into his hands, just like you did."
"Mom!"
Zhang Chao didn't want his "past exploits" brought up again in front of so many people.
"Be quiet!"
His mother frowned. She seemed to be studying her tiles, but she was actually talking to Zhang Chao.
"After we got back from the police station last time, I couldn't sleep for several nights. I kept thinking you'd handed someone leverage over you. He could use it against you whenever he wanted. You wouldn't be entirely safe even after starting university."
"Mom, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Zhang Chao felt that his mother was looking at the problem from a completely different angle.
"Here's what I think..."
His mother turned to look at him again. "Why don't you tell Chen Zhu that someone's planning to attack him? Then discuss it with him and see whether he'll return the pledge and those other documents to us."
"Mom!"
Zhang Chao's eyes widened. "You want me to betray my friends?"
"You call those thugs who spend all day in internet cafés friends?"
Seeing that her son still didn't seem to understand, his mother flared up. "Can't you make friends with a couple of top students? Or are you planning to leave someone with leverage over you for the rest of your life?"
"Those honors-class kids are all pretentious hypocrites. Who'd want to be friends with them...?"
Zhang Chao scoffed.
"I'm not arguing with you anymore. Just do what I said."
Seeing that reasoning with him wasn't working, his mother brought out her trump card. "If you don't listen, I'll tell your dad. He still doesn't know you were taken to the police station. Once he finds out, he'll beat you to death!"
At the mention of his father, a flicker of fear crossed Zhang Chao's face, and he began to waver.
Seeing mother and son arguing, the other players tried to smooth things over. "All right, all right. Chaochao, listen to your mother. There are some things you don't understand well enough yet. A-Rong, calm down. Let's keep playing..."
Still fuming, Zhang Chao's mother drew a tile. The instant she saw it, her face lit up. "East wind! That gives me a winning hand!"
"Sometimes, all it takes to change your life is one tile."
Holding up the east wind tile, she gave Zhang Chao a pointed look. "Get those things back, and you can start university with a clean slate. As for Chen Zhu, he might just need this east wind himself..."
Adults were bound to take a longer view of things than high school students who had yet to enter the real world.
To Zhang Chao's mother, this was a chance to kill several birds with one stone.
Getting back the material that could be used against Zhang Chao would be the best outcome.
If they couldn't get it back, they could at least ease the conflict and leave themselves a chance to retrieve it later.
There was another very important point: it would force Zhang Chao to draw a clear line between himself and those thugs outside school!
My son's training in sports so he can bring honor to his country and province someday. Even if that doesn't work out, he can still become a PE teacher. Those little thugs had better not ruin his future!
Zhang Chao's mother thought she had worked out an excellent plan, and Zhang Chao had no intention of defying her.
But he took it upon himself to change the timing.
He should have gone to Chen Zhu the following day, but instead, Zhang Chao decided to wait until the Second Mock Exam to tell him.
If it messes with your head and you fall out of the top ten in our year, that's none of my business.
(Please vote, please vote~. This novel will very likely start paid serialization next month.)
(End of chapter)
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